


Whatever happens with us, your body will haunt mine

by LightDescending



Series: two women together is a work [2]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Affection, Backstory, Banter, Body hacking, F/F, For Science!, Intimacy, LGBTQ Female Character, Lesbian Character, Light Bondage, Menopause, Not Suitable/Safe For Work, Older Characters, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Pre-Canon, Sex, Tentacle Sex, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 04:43:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20076334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightDescending/pseuds/LightDescending
Summary: Three asides, all set during the good years Olivia and May have.The first night they slept together; an encounter that is mutually enjoyable and in which they tend to each other's needs; and the first time with the suit, which is definitely not a kink if it's for science.





	1. It took us long enough, didn't it?

**Author's Note:**

> If you're under 18 years old - what are you doing here? You know better. 
> 
> The title of this fic is from (The floating poem, unnumbered) in Twenty-One Love Poems by Adrienne Rich, 1974-76, which can be found in the collection The Dream of a Common Language. 
> 
> I have chosen to split this particular fic up into three chapters, which should be thought of more as three distinct scenes. The first chapter, as you may be able to tell, is a direct continuation of a scene from the first fic in this series; I wanted to write about that encounter, and what they would have talked about at the end of it, and this fic bloomed out from there. The other ones take place, in my mind, before Doc Ock has officially made a debut; for a look at the timeline I've imagined for them, read "forces we had ranged within us, within us and against us".

_The season had worn on. The maples shifted tone until they were all an aching crimson. Liv kept getting leaves from them caught in her hair while she was biking to work, and May drew them out each day as they travelled up in the elevator. Liv watched May out of the corner of her eye and tried to intuit the exact number of seconds that May spent touching her, attempted to discern whether May was lingering or just kindly preventing her from looking more bedraggled than she already did. _

_She’d realized she hardly knew a thing about what May’s life was now, watching as the older woman closed her laptop and tucked it away inside a bag; so she asked. _

_“I’ve been able to start my own lab again,” May had replied. _

_“Really?” Liv’s mind had started racing – maybe Alchemax could draw up a small contract, something collaborative. “What’s the funding structure? The size?” _

_“Only really needs to be for me – small enough. Funding’s public.” _

_No amount of prying had been enough to get much more detail out of May after that, although she admitted that she was working primarily in material science: textile, to be specific; small-scale bespoke pieces. A bit of dabbling with practical assistive tech. It had irritated Olivia, a niggling little passing thought about how, of all the times to be principled… For the millionth time she’d been glad that she was the authority in her own lab, that she ultimately enforced confidentiality however suited her. But May could be so stubborn when it came to things like this. So she’d changed the subject. _

_“It’s not right that I never see you outside of business hours,” Liv cracked, only partly joking. _

_“So have me over, then,”May replied._

_It had been chill – the kind of day where all the New Yorkers were walking around in their wool peacoats and still shivering because the wet had got into their bones and they were adjusting. Liv invited May to the apartment for some ciders and barbeque jackfruit or something in the slow-cooker. Only, May had walked in and gave Liv her coat to hang up, cast an appreciative eye towards the kitchen and the half-prepped veggies on the cutting board, then walked Liv back into a wall with one hand pressed no-nonsense against her sternum._

_“Can we?” May asked, a good foot between their faces, all electrified air that was seizing Liv’s breath up._

_“God, yes–” Liv blurted._

_“Thank God for that,” May muttered before leaning in, and oh, her mouth on Liv’s was a revelation and then some. Warm, soft, a little chapped maybe but if they weren’t it’d be a surprise at this point in the season, and May moved her lips to Liv’s neck, and she nearly cracked her head into the wall. Her hands were on May’s shoulders – were they clenched? – and she wanted May to be everywhere already, the weight of her, something, but it was gently uncompromising, agonizing, honey stings, electric syrup, the same body-fizzing excitement as the first time she got a neural synch to the suit. So much slower than she expected. So much kinder for all that May was insistent, her hands skimming down Liv’s sides until they came to rest against her hips and pressed into them, pinning her down. Liv was shot through with craving, so much sensation it was nearly overload. And once May started mouthing words directly against her skin –_

_“It’s been a while. Sorry if I’m rusty.”_

_Liv choked out a laugh that turned into a moan, tilting her head back to give May better access. “You’re plenty enthusiastic from where I’m standing--”_

_“Yeah, well…” May leaned back enough that Liv could see the crow’s feet crinkled at the corners of her eyes. “Didn’t figure you’d be staying that way long. Might’ve been presumptuous.”_

_“Educated, more like.” Liv took a shaky breath then said, “Can I kiss you back?”_

_“Absolutely.”_

\--

Liv touches her like May will disappear if she doesn’t. Like May’s body needs mapping, or encoding. And she kisses the same, as they stumble towards Liv’s bedroom; brow furrowed intently, a nervy half-smile playing around her mouth. Her fingers hover at May’s jawline, sneak down to her clavicle, palm warm against her ribcage through the cotton shirt she’s wearing.

“I would’ve done better if I’d known this was going to happen,” gesturing to a bed covered in rumpled blankets, forgotten bits of clothing littered across the floor. May feels bright behind her chest, the warm thrum of anticipation, because Liv is eager and pliant and not-quite grabbing at the front of May’s cardigan until they shrug it off together. May reaches out and takes her hands, guides them to the bottom of the shirt she’s wearing, and starts drawing it up. Liv’s hands tighten where they’re resting momentarily, then ghost along – May feels an echo in their wake across her navel, higher, and it tickles – and then May’s elbow catches on the shirt with it halfway over her head.

The fabric skews, bunches, and she hears Liv say, “_shit_, wait—”, and May laughs through the disentanglement. Liv takes the shirt with her as she finally sits down hard, staring up.

Liv swallows; May helps adjust her glasses from crooked on the long line of her nose, sits next to her. Kisses her again, and again, not wanting to lose momentum. She’s tilting Liv’s face a little to meet hers. Liv in turn is reaching around to the back of her head, holding her in place. She’s _missed_ this, the closeness of being with someone else, and she couldn’t think of another way to tell Liv what she’d wanted outside of just… trusting that she hadn’t misread anything. In a moment where she’s taking a quick breath Liv mumbles against the corner of her mouth.

“Can I just warp back to an earlier version of myself and tell her, hey, there’s a moment coming up that’s _decidedly _worth the wait –”

“We’re not getting any younger,” May teases. “But yeah, we’ve got time.”

“Smartass!”

Liv kisses her again, then tugs her off balance and more fully on top of the covers, so they’re laying side to side. Her eyes trace across May’s expression, May can see her doing it. Slowly, gradually, she reaches out, as if logging the angles of May’s jawline with her fingertips, the delicate skin and laughter lines around her eyes, the softness of her cheekbones.

“Should I be getting self-conscious?” May murmurs after a moment.

“Not at all.” She traces over May’s ear, behind it, cradles the base of her skull as she dips in – May feels the slow glowing press of Liv’s mouth against her neck, a gently searing scrape of teeth, soft puffs of air shivering over her skin and hands playing down her side to bring her closer when Olivia laughs. “I don’t even know what you’d like. Some seduction this is. I can guess, but...”

“…Can I show you?”

Soft, so soft.

Liv nods, precise and eager, presses one last kiss to May’s collarbone that blooms where it’s set. May responds by running one hand down the articulated curve of Liv’s spine to hook her in close at her lower back, best she can, the other tugging at the hem of Liv’s shirt to loose it from her waistband. She looks down, and May can practically hear the click as Liv gets it.

“Oh. Oh. You mean on…”

May drags a hand up over Liv’s navel, relishing the jolt that runs through Liv’s body, up towards her ribs, then back down again. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

“Cool- _oh_.” Liv’s mouth drops open as May’s hand slips back up, this time lightly stroking over her breast – May registers that she’s not wearing a bra, which isn’t exactly a surprise. “Yeah. _Yes_. Definitely.”

May let herself move, urgent and deliberate and exploratory - and Olivia responds so well to that, her whole body arching forward. May’s drawing from everything she’s done for herself as far as the soothing motions go – deeper pressure along the forearms and the shoulders, slow massage through the palms and up each finger from the base to the tip – but May’s also casting back to the ways she’s loved being touched before. Being held. She’s trying to convey warmth through the way she runs her hands over Liv’s sides or up her back beneath her shirt, care in thumbing over the swell and side of Liv’s breasts, want in every skimming motion down towards the creases in Liv’s hips.

And Liv keeps responding, and that alone is satisfying, and May could swear– watching Liv, finally _feeling_ her instead of just imagining it… it might just be tipping May towards wanting what she hasn’t actively been oriented towards in recent years. It helps that Liv is trying to repeat certain motions, that she’s tracing along the parts of May she can reach, fumbling and awkward though it may be at this angle with their bodies tipped towards each other on their sides. Incrementally Liv keeps shifting in until they’re aligned, and her mouth drops open silently against the contact when they slot their legs together before she kisses May, hungrily, like it’s keeping her anchored.

Finally Olivia groans, looking dazed, “if you… if you keep doing this - I’m not going to be able to keep my clothes on.”

“Not a problem for me, if it’s not for you.” She’s being _bold_. 

Liv falls back, disengaging, one hand curling up to push the mass of her hair away from her face. She rests her forearm over her eyes, her other hand pressed to her lower abdomen, absently inching lower before halting. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. We can work with that.”

May starts to help Liv with the front of her loose button-down. This is so much easier than she thought it’d be, now that it’s underway. She notices her hands are a little unsteady clutching Liv’s discarded shirt, while Liv shimmies her way out of her pants; and she remembers deciding she wanted this. How she’d figure out the implications later. Liv is sitting up slightly, taking the clothes out of May’s hands, casting them away before she reclines and tugs May in.

“You should touch me,” Liv says, and there’s something open, a little exposed in her face that May almost can’t bear, but neither of them looks away until May’s hand slides low, slips between Liv’s thighs, her way of saying _yes, absolutely_, and then Liv’s eyes flutter closed.

“_Oh,_” her voice snags on the breath. May becomes hyper-aware of the beat of her own heart, the flush in her face, of the warmth and wet of Liv under her. Of Liv gently gripping her upper arms to hold May in close, of the way Liv’s mouth parts when May crooks and slides her fingers against Liv decisively, like she’s beckoning.

“I do this for myself, sometimes.”

“Hell of an image to put in my mind here, wasn’t expecting that,” Liv moans; May feels a prickle along the back of her neck, a tingle through her arms and at the base of her spine.

“Well, _that _seems to be working,” she comments, and feels a little wicked with how Liv responds just to her voice- makes another sound against her, rocks into the touch, and May tries to replicate the motion, is rewarded by another groan against her clavicle. “Roll onto your back for me?”

Liv obliges, and May rests her hand for a moment, stretching her fingers and rotating her wrist to ease out the tendons. Meantime, she grabs the pillows and blankets in as a cushioning element before winding her free arm beneath Liv’s neck; it lets her relax her shoulders, tuck herself in against the length of Liv’s body.

“It’s easier, this way,” May murmurs. “The angle’s better for me.”

“A-any angle’s good for me on my end here, _shit_, this is taking no time at all today --” Liv rushes out, and goes wordless again as May resumes stroking her.

“I’m glad I came tonight, then,” May says, and Liv smirks, leans in to kiss her, nipping gently at May’s lower lip like she’s trying to catch her off guard.

“N-not yet, you haven’t, but –”

She slides her hands down May’s arms, tries to fumble one of her hands between them, but May stops and Liv makes a noise of frustration.

“Will you let me do this for you first?” May asks, and she swallows, mouth suddenly gone dry. “I – I want to concentrate.”

Liv’s eyes open slowly, and she meets May’s gaze, piercing even though her eyes are half-lidded. A tiny quirk that lifts the corner of Liv’s mouth, and May decides she really likes it when Liv looks at her that way.

“I’m gonna get you back. _Oh_, I’m gonna make this worth your while.”

Liv’s hips lift, and May quickens the motion of her fingers again, and Liv clutches at her. Rolls against her in earnest, now, sounds escaping her, a little louder, a little more constant, and each one urging May on, sending a thrill into her. 

“_Please_—”, Liv gasps, and May can feel her tense, the rhythm of her hips stuttering uneven, and she clings on desperately. “_Please_, May, don’t stop, I—”

She reaches against the back of May’s neck, pulls her in for a kiss – fumbling, breathing in shakily through her nose – breaks apart again, and May feels Liv holding herself absolutely still, May’s hand now the only thing moving between them. Then Liv lets out a cry, and her back arches, her legs bracing, and May presses her hand against Liv while she comes.

It’s hard not to feel pleased with herself, so May leans into that, keeping her hand slowly moving. Olivia seems to like that, little aftershocks rolling through her for a solid minute or so and sounds wringing out of her before she rolls over into May to break contact, collapsing into her arms more fully. She’s breathing raggedly, giggling a little, breaking out into laughter, and it makes May smile.

“_Fuck_,” Liv gets out at last. “Usually _I’m _the one in the position you’re in, the first go-round. That doesn’t seem fair. Jeez.”

May keeps running a hand lightly up and down Olivia’s spine as she nudges closer, collects herself for a few seconds.

“In all fairness,” May finally admits. “I didn’t want to disapp-… I’m not even sure what effect that had on me, if any –”

“Only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Olivia grins, sneaking her hand down between them.

To May’s _further_ gratification, very much to her relief, everything’s worked better than she realized it would on the whole physical arousal front. 

Liv takes full advantage.

Later, ravenous, May watches Liv pile jackfruit into tortillas for her, dolloping on sour cream and shreds of lettuce, and she props her chin on her hands while Liv chatters about something May isn’t quite hearing. There’s a flush up Liv’s neck, she notices, high patches of colour on her cheekbones. Neither of them can stop smiling. May feels more relaxed than she has in weeks.

“—and thank _God _slow cookers have a keep-warm feature, right?” Liv says, May tuning in at last.

“I think I’d do this again. It took us long enough, didn’t it?”

“...It’s a date?”

“At our age? Sure, why not.”

Liv pauses, turns back to the food on the counter. May watches her worry her lips with her teeth before speaking again. “I’d accepted this never happening. If it’d been anyone but you I would’ve tried to sleep with you _years_ ago.”

“I’d guessed.”

She’s glad when Liv doesn’t ask her why she’d held off. Instead, Liv crosses the kitchen to sit down next to her, putting a plate of food in front of them both.

“If we’re going to do this,” Liv says, calculated, her long fingers twisting together in a way May’s only seen a few times before. “I’ll be as good to you as I can.”

“Well, I should hope so.” May reaches over to place a hand over top of Liv’s, which still. “You know I’ll do the same. I’m… this is going to be an adjustment. Probably for both of us, definitely for me.”

“You know I work too much. And I’m not just going to be able to drop all of that.”

“I’m retired, mostly. I set my own schedule. We’ll figure it out,” May replies, squeezing. Liv turns her palm up so she can take May’s hand too, and smiles, and there’s that same look of fragility that she’d had only an hour or so earlier – May wonders if Liv’s even aware that she possesses it.

“Our food’s going to get cold,” Liv says. “And at this point we’d deserve that, wouldn’t we?”

Jackfruit has a texture May’s not used to, but it tastes like barbeque all the same, a near uncanny substitute for pulled chicken, and Liv regales her with details of all the protein substitutes she’s had time to test out over the last couple of decades. About the finer points of textural and nutritional difference between seitan and tempeh and how the two are _not _in fact interchangeable in recipes; about the new plant-based meat with heme that has the texture of ground beef, not to mention that iron-tang that Liv craves sometimes when she misses omnivorous habits, and May is strangely glad for how quickly they get back into typical conversation, considering. She could get used to this.


	2. Thank you for a wonderful time so far.

If there’s one thing Liv is determined that May should learn quickly, early in their liaisons, it’s that Liv bringst the same level of intensity to sex that she does everything else. She likes a _lot_, whether she’s giving it or getting it, and May’s proving to have a fair bit of stamina. Plus, she knows when she needs a break, which just draws things out longer. Suits Liv just fine. She’s not opposed to marathon sessions. And she likes a challenge.

“Okay, okay, I need a minute,” May laughs one night, a little terse, and Liv draws away. Not without making a point, grinning wickedly as May’s forced laugh turns into a genuine moan.

“What time is it?” Liv says, as a way to bring May back; she rolls over partly to check, loose-limbed.

“It’s… 11:30?”

“Hm? That early?” Liv stretches long and satisfied.

“I think time moves differently for you, I swear.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. At any rate, I’ve got nowhere to be, and I’m perfectly content with the evening so far.” Liv tucks her arms behind her head with some satisfaction, rubbing her fingers together absently – they’re a bit messy, after all, but she doesn’t mind that. “I promise not to keep you up too late, though.”

“Pff. I sleep less these days anyways.”

“Yeah, but I can help it be a _good _sleep. Don’t act like you don’t appreciate it.”

May smirks a little wryly, and Liv knows her banter is landing well at least. “You want me to say my pleases and thank yous?”

“I’ll leave that one up to you.”

“Well then, thank you for a wonderful time so far.”

“Mmm, you’re welcome. Doing okay?”

“Fine. It’s the indignities of menopause. Sometimes, sometimes not, and I can never predict which.”

“Do you want some?”

“…It might help.”

“No problem,” Liv says, reaching over for the bottle she’s got on the nightstand. May closes her eyes, a troubled crease between her brows, and Liv drops some liquid into her hands, replacing the cap before she rubs her palms and fingers together so the lube coats properly.

“Don’t worry about it, if it’s an enhancement for you … come on back here, if you please?” May does, lets herself fall back as Liv reaches down and in, and May breathes in sharp, her head tipping up and her eyes fluttering shut. “_That’s_ it, _there _we go…”

May moans between her teeth, a quiet _nh_; inches a hand up to scrape gently against Liv’s scalp, through the tangle of her hair. Liv nips a quick kiss against the base of May’s thumb, noses against her wrist.

“Well worth the effort, here,” Liv continues, pitched low, “getting you like this, assisted or not.”

Her hand moves languidly between May’s legs, slick and easy, and May groans this time, laughs once, the tension starting to ease back out of her. “Keep talking.”

Liv hums a little.

“Oh? What about, hm? How I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of this? How much I love hearing you, or seeing you, or _—_” her hand makes the point, “_touching_ you? By now I’ve got a good sense of what works, don’t I, and that means it’s fun to shift around the variables a little.”

“You’re lucky you’re right about what works _—_” May’s voice hitches at the end.

“Oh _thank you_!” Punctuating, emphasizing with a quick circling motion of her fingertips that gets out another desperate noise. “Very glad to hear it, let’s hear some more, maybe; oh, yes, just like _that—_”

Liv loses track of the buildup, deliciously so, but evidently it works and then some; May’s hands grip in through her hair, and a sizzle runs along her scalp and down her spine, a warm ache between her legs all over again, and Liv reminds herself this is half the fun, getting May off first before letting herself have much more than teasing. As for May, Olivia can hear the effort it takes when she breathes in, loses the words, tries again, and it’s _hot_.

“God. Sorry about the – the whatever, _oh, _you should do that again.”

“I’m the last person you need to worry about offending,” Liv whispers against May’s jawline, grinning as the other woman gasps.

May gasps at one motion, one movement, and Liv repeats it, slow, drags it out, quickens again, and again - she chases May’s _yes’s_, her _like that_’s, the choked off _ohs, _anything that tells her May’s getting closer.

“That’s it, come on, you can have this…”

May’s hands tighten and tug against Liv’s hair, she presses in and seems to strain away at the same time, and then she’s shaking against Liv’s hands, coming apart. All the sounds she’s making are muffled, made as they are against the crook where Liv’s neck meets her shoulder, _that’s_ a thrill, and Liv circles her fingers against and inside her until May double-taps against the bedspread in their signal that she’s done.

Liv takes a second to adjust the pillows and covers they’ve got set up to cradle the angles and curves of their bodies, then falls back to holding May in close. Cards gentle through her hair, listens to May catching her breath, pleased as anything.

“I’m not sure if you’re adding years when we do this or taking them away, but just can’t seem to care,” May says muzzily.

“I sure hope I’m adding them. I plan to do this indefinitely, if you’d like.”

“Insatiable. I love it.” May presses a few lazy kisses to Liv, her hands making long sweeping strokes down Liv’s shoulder blades, along her side and into her hips so they lean forward, chasing after the pressure. “Thank you. Seriously. Speaking of…”

“You gonna make me come again?”

“Hoping to, chatty.”

“You love it,” Liv says, making sure she casts a low-lidded glance at May while she does. It’s met with a soft smirk growing again on May’s lips.

“You’re damn right I do.”

And of course Liv is ready to go already – she’s not keeping track, tonight, but there’s something about bringing her partner to the edge and past it that’s always worked fantastically, as far as she’s concerned. It’s a tried, tested, and true method. May moves her thigh between Liv’s to give her something extra to move against besides a hand, and the sensation is _so _much in all the best ways. Distributed and indirect pressure, plus the focused. Liv rests her forehead against May’s, can’t seem to stop running her hands over May’s neck, her shoulders, down her back even when May’s hand is rocking into her and her mouth is hot on her chest.

“Yes, _yes_, like that…”

The feeling is building, little swells of heat and sweetness from a pool low down in her navel. It’s just building slowly, and yet again Liv is glad that May is indulgent in turn. That she enjoys being here, at her apartment, which is something exciting, something Liv could get used to – and Peter’s engaged, at this point, will be moving out soon, so who knows, maybe May gets lonely at the empty house of hers. May angles against her again, and Liv groans. She should focus. Olivia rolls her hips a little bit, and May hums in approval. Redoubles.

“You’re distracted,” May notes. 

“In – _ah _– in the best way…”

“Right. But I wonder, sometimes…”

“What?”

“What would happen if you let yourself slow down a little.”

“Not sure I know the - _hnh _– meaning of the phrase. Oh, that’s nice.”

Liv nips against May’s ear even though her breath is starting to go quick and shaky, and May casts an appraising glance over her.

“Would you try something if I think it’d work?”

“What did you h-have in mind?”

May stops for a second, and Liv has to fight back a small whine from her throat.

“I’m thinking you should try deeper breaths.”

“Deeper… what, like holding?”

“No, no, like…” And May draws in a breath slowly, for what seems like… a count of 3, maybe 4? And then lets it out at the same pace. She shifts deliberately into Liv too, a little, and Liv makes a low keen far back in her throat involuntarily. “Like flow. Okay?”

“I mean, things have been working fine for me without all of that but… yeah, why not?”

“Whatever’s feeling best. If it doesn’t work, that’s okay, but if it does… I think you might like it.”

“Voice of experience?”

“Mm. Could be.”

“It totally is.”

“Yes, it is.” May slides her hand against Liv and she loses her train of thought all over. What the hell. Can’t hurt to humour her.

Liv breathes in, long and steady as she can, and May’s fingertips touch her so lightly at first and then _quicken_—

“Oh _fuck_-!” Liv loses the breath all at once, because as her lungs had filled and May was against her she’d felt it like a firework inside her head, a kindling between her legs.

“You see?” says May, all smug against her throat. “Want to try again?”

“Y-yeah, sure…”

“Then just breathe for me,” May goes, and Liv nearly stops being able to think. 

“_Shit._” And then she’s narrowing her world to the inhalation, the cool air filling up her lungs and the sudden quick circles, quick strokes of May’s hand against her, and when Liv starts to exhale May touches her softly, so gentle, just the tips of her fingers, it’s _agonizingly_ good. It’s the point of heat that’s been building suddenly brighter, bigger, opening inside her like a star-formation on timelapse, like cloud flashes or sheet lightning rousing in a storm.

She breathes in, breathes out, May matching what she’s doing to the ebb and flow of it, and Liv has never felt anything like this in her life, she knows, she would have remembered. The edges of her start to fray, the more the pleasure builds, and she knows May can start to hear it because she’s urging Liv on the same way Liv had been earlier:

“That’s it, Liv, do you feel that? This is all you need to be thinking about right now, you’re here with me…”

“_Fuck_, I’m gonna –” is all the notice she can give before it flares through her, a kind of white-out behind her eyes as she comes, as hard as she only has a few times before.

Dimly, Liv feels May rubbing gentle circles against her back in the aftermath. “Good?” she asks.

It’s all she can do to just nod her assent, wordless for the first time tonight. She kisses May instead, feeling more than a little radiant. Liv looks at the clock for a split second, and when she glances next ten minutes have slipped away from her, lost to the hazy-feeling glow inside her mind and body. She uses her thumbs to massage along the base of May’s thumbs, her fingers. Over the tendons in the back of her hands. Up the wrists and forearms. May thanks her, tenderly as anything.

Gradually, they get up one at a time to pee and get cleaned up, and when Liv goes she can hardly walk straight, her legs wobbly as anything. She’s glad for the privacy as she cleans up with a warm washcloth and nearly buckles, finds herself thinking about the suit at her workplace, just for a second, how much easier it’d be to get around like that in moments like this. Somehow Liv gets back to the bed, into May’s arms. Both of them press a few unconcerned, sated kisses against each other and murmur goodnight, and Liv can’t stop running a thumb lazily over the curve of May’s shoulder, and she drifts...

The next thing she knows, it’s morning. Liv blinks her eyes open to the soft grey light of dawn, turns her face to see the way it glimmers along the silver of May’s hair where it lies against the pillow. She props herself up on an elbow, moving agonizingly slow in order not to shift the mattress and wake May up, and watches the steady rise and fall of May’s chest.

Her brain feels completely quiet. It’s a little unnerving.

“You’ll always be a problem for me on this front, won’t you?” Liv whispers. She’s stricken by something she’s afraid to name. May shifts in her sleep, but doesn’t wake. 


	3. I might be asking you to.

When May arrives at Liv’s apartment, the door is unlocked – she lets herself in, but all the lights are off in the entryway. Through all the rooms, in fact.

“Liv?” May calls.

“Ah, shit – one second!”

This answer from the bedroom. May hears what sounds like a window sliding, a brief clatter, a muffled swear as something thuds against the ground. Some sort of… whirring? Maybe?

And then Liv emerges from the bedroom wearing some sort of… apparatus. One that registers as familiar. A bodysuit, from the looks of it, a waist-cincher… corset… thing? Though with bright nodes of light all across it, giving the impression of some deep-sea creature bioluminescing; across her shoulders and upper chest, a mostly translucent, soft shell of torso armour, and wires visible everywhere May can think to see them. She’s positively fizzing with energy, hair piled up high on her head and barely contained by what appear to be a set of scrunchies. Her eyes are barely visible behind a set of acidicly green goggles. Liv is tugging off a pair of black gloves and almost walks straight past May; backtracks half a step to kiss May on the cheek, then resumes her gait to flip on the lights. May follows her stride, sees a pack strapped against her back with port-holes, closed at present.

“What on earth… Olivia?”

“Sorry, sorry, I forgot what time you were coming over – I just got back from being out. Running some preliminary testing, some initial recalibrations-”

“Is that the… The last time I saw that was at the demo! Do I even want to know how you got that back?”

“Nope.” This, cheerfully.

Honestly. May huffs in displeasure, though she’s sure Liv won’t register it. “I’ll take your word for it.”

By now Olivia’s made it to the kitchen. May hears her put the kettle on, rifling through her fridge.

“I’ve got leftovers! Well, okay, not leftovers, I cooked yesterday to have food for tonight – good thing, too, I got a bit carried away.”

“I’m getting that sense. Thanks for dinner – I brought wine.”

“You’re the best, what kind?” She’s emerging now, holding a covered casserole dish with one hand, and nearly trips over herself crossing back through the entrance way. “_Whoop- _shit, I forgot how hard it is to adjust to regular mobility – here, can you take this?”

“Sure, hang on…”

For her troubles May gets a second smooch on the cheek, even though she’s now holding a bottle with one hand and a small ceramic dish in the other, and Liv continues on turning on lights and adjusting the throw on the couch. May sees her reach up and worry at the back of her neck, craning it side-to-side and rotating her shoulders slightly.

“You okay?”

“Fine, fine. Still working on my posture, on not straining anything, I’m not used to the speed I can go at yet…”

“Come eat.” She manages to set things down on the table without fumbling any of it. “I’ll try to work on that after we do.”

Liv flops herself onto a stool rather than take a chair, and May sees her posture slacken.

“Yes please. Here, you gotta try this, it’s oven-baked polenta with roasted mushrooms and thyme – tell me about your day?”

Nothing much special had happened, but Liv hangs onto her words with a fierce concentration. May recognizes it as Liv trying to make it up to her for a lack of preparation, an effort at mollification even though May isn’t actually all that annoyed. More curious.

“What are you even doing out there with this on?” she asks, while pouring herself her second glass of wine.

“Cardio.”

“Sure you don’t want to take it off, once we’re done?”

“_Ugh,_ too much effort.”

In no time at all, it feels like, the wine is half-gone and the food too. Liv devours something like three plates, May notices. She insists on doing the washing so that Liv can dry the dishes. Liv doesn’t even bother rolling the suit’s sleeves up her forearms. 

“Is that thing waterproof?”

“It’s most-things-proof.”

“Convenient.”

“Hey, if a co-requisite of wearing this thing is the streamlining, then it needs to be able to handle everything. Heat, humidity, impact – the last to a more limited degree. There’s at least 7 kinds of textile involved.”

“I’m curious about the construction methods.”

“Carbon nanotubes are as close as I can get to telling you what’s going on here, before it stops making much sense to me. There’s some wacky novel polymers involved too, I think?”

“It’s _all _carbon nanotubes these days!”

“Broad applicability, what can I say? Not much, I guess. That’s more your specialty. I deal with the physics side.” Liv clinks another dish into the rack, flicking her fingers to remove any leftover soap. “_God, _you would have loved being part of the lab on this project. Part of me wishes I was still doing stuff like _this._”

“The quantum theory getting to you?”

“More the lack of funders. No one so far who’s willing to take the risk on investment I’d need to really kick things off into practical testing of the theory – which is solid. We’re certain we could do _something, _given a chance. Picture this – one day, small-scale wearable tech, enabling near-instantaneous teleportation between designated points. Hey, maybe you could get involved with that? We’re thinking bracelets. It’s strings all the way down.”

“I appreciate that pun.” Otherwise, she doesn’t respond directly to any of Liv’s propositions - what would she even say to that? May wipes a dishcloth against the rim of the wine glass, passing it over. “That’s the last of them.”

“You didn’t have to do this, I’d like to reiterate.”

“Equal contributions. You cooked. Come on, let’s deal with your neck.”

They end up with Liv sitting on the floor, body slack and leaning between May’s slightly spread legs where she sits, humming with pleasure as soon as May starts massaging through at her temples, across the top of Olivia’s scalp as best as she can reach, considering the factors working against her success (hair, scrunchies in disarray; but at least it keeps her neck exposed). Olivia has such a different sense of décor from her own; the couch is a mod sectional piece, white, very trendy. Maybe it’s stain-proof, and May thinks about the vinyl covers she’s got on her own sofa with some mild envy. Must be nice to have money banked enough to get something like this. Either that, or Liv is unconcerned about these things. That’s probably more likely.

With how May is pressing her thumbs in at the base of Liv’s skull, her head lolls forward; May starts to knead her way down the back of Liv’s neck up until the strange translucent armour that encases her shoulders. But then May sees something, something she’s never registered properly before, and it’s wrong -

“_Liv-_”

Liv twists around slightly, alarm flashing onto her face. 

May reaches out to touch Liv again. “What is…”

Under her hand, long-healed vertical scars, two of them, on either side of the nape of Liv’s neck. 

“Oh, that?” Liv settles back, all unconcerned. “Those are subdermal implants. The first of many. The rest are down my spine. Evenly spaced.”

“How have I not noticed these before?”

Liv shrugs, and May’s not sure what’s most worrisome – the scarring, or Liv’s reaction to her finding out. But then she thinks about Peter, about the injuries and the refusals to go to a hospital; recalls the suits of his she’s worked to specification, mildly alarmed at the implications of what she’s protecting against. More hypocrite her, if she judges Liv for something that’s clearly related to her research. It takes a second while she figures out what to say. 

“Does it hurt?”

“Mm? Oh, no. Not anymore. They’re not a direct connection anyways; more a series of transmitters. They let me know where the limbs are in relation to me, whether they’re going to run into each other or something else in a way that can’t be compensated for. Mapping in a space. It’s the difference between a fully-automated process and one with more finesse, with human input. It’s what self-driving vehicles for consumers wish they could be right now. Or what they’ll manage in a few decades, after the trickle down.”

“Hm. Can you sense anything through them?”

“It’s not like nerve endings if that’s what you’re thinking. More like… a buzz. Or a hum. It’s awareness, that’s all, or else I’d be in sensory overload hell constantly. But you know how this feels?”

Liv twists around, most of the way, and moves her hand in close to May’s knee, warmth radiating off of her; May feels the hairs on the back of her neck start to stand on end. “Mmhmm?”

Liv moves her hand side to side, still hovering just above the surface, and when May shivers, Liv chuckles.

“Like that. Nothing more. Well, like static sometimes, if there’s a lot happening. It’s mainly for proximity measurements – a subtlety of the frequency, or something. It’s more intuitive than anything.” She sets her hand down at last, splaying her fingers on May’s thigh, looking up at May impishly. “To let me know if I’ve made contact.”

“…Your enthusiasm is charming.” And it is, genuinely – May’s feeling badly for getting annoyed, it doesn’t seem warranted.

“Care for a demonstration?”

She doesn’t wait for a reply. May hears a kind of burbling noise, sees the… what are they, arms? Tentacles? The whatever-they-are swell out from the pack. They’re slender and _deeply _weird, but she sees them planting on the ground behind and beside Liv, on either side of May’s legs and Liv is drifting up like her body’s an extension of them, instead of them of her. Liv taps a finger along the side of her glasses and the lenses in them iris in like a camera shuttering. May can see how… comfortable she is, like this; how confidently she holds her legs beneath her, like it’s not effortful at all, feet left to dangle down with ease and control.

“I get a read-out,” Liv continues, nearly smug. “Temperature, heat-maps if I want them, hydraulics monitoring, velocities, pressure being exerted in pounds-per-inch, current load-bearing capacities, things like that.”

The arms stretch, elongate, and Liv lifts up before straddling May’s lap.

The breath catches in May’s lungs for a second.

As Liv’s weight distributes, settles, May feels soft touches – a gentle glide on either side of her torso, a pliable curl around her back and waist, and Liv cocks her head to one side. Her hands reach forward, her arms – her normal ones – coming to rest, draping languidly around May’s neck. One of the unoccupied remaining arms twists forward, fiddling with the ends of May’s hair playfully.

“Precise, too.” Liv whispers. “I can even feel this,” flicking May’s hair again. “A little tingly.”

“This is by far the strangest thing you’ve ever done.” May murmurs in reply.

“As of yet, you mean. We can get weirder. If you like.”

A strangely intriguing proposal. May can see Liv searching her face, not quite closing the gap, so May does it for her – lips parting, leaning into the kiss, feeling the limbs caress her side, her arm, brushing against the side of one breast. She makes a small sound against Liv’s mouth, and Liv, seeming encouraged, allows the arms to curl in even more, her own hands coming up to cup around the back of May’s neck. The sensation is… peculiarly grounding? They kiss a few more times like that, May getting more entangled by the second, and it’s good. There’s just one problem, May thinks. Something ruining the immersiveness.

Withdrawing, May lifts an eyebrow.

“Are the goggles really necessary?”

A beat.

“Unfortunately, yes. Have you heard of Bluetooth?”

“_You’re not serious._”

“It’s not _exactly_ Bluetooth! Just… laypeople’s terms!”

“So wait, you can accomplish this…” May gestures to the arms gently wrapped around her as best she can, considering one arm is partially entwined with one of the soft-robotic limbs, “with primarily body-hacking and implants, but you’re relying on a _wireless connection _for your visual display?”

Liv pulls a face, throws her hands up defensively. “Listen, we didn’t have funding for something involving a more permanent uplink or a higher level of AI control, _and also_ the whole design was intended for like, industry or other hazardous trades and work environments; it’s hardly a sustainable model if people can’t take most of the suit off again, right? It was _convenient_! Besides, the _goggles _are really for the data readouts, but those are _important, _you take them away and there’s like a 60% drop in the limbs’ accuracy and precision-”

Liv talks with her hands the entire time, gestures punctuating her words. The two remaining tendrils behind her, the ones not otherwise occupied, are mirroring the motions as she does so. May can’t help it anymore. She cracks up.

“This is… this is entirely ridiculous. I love it.” She leans in to kiss Liv, and starts laughing again. “I’m sorry. You’re a marvel, this is wonderful, I don’t mean to insult your work.”

It takes a second, but Liv snorts and smiles. “It is _really_ weird.”

“It’s science, I’d expect nothing less. You should see the shit that comes out of SkyKnit. And again – I love it.”

Liv wiggles her fingers, and that sets May off again. “Does that mean you’ll let me..?”

“It’s definitely not the right mood tonight. Rain check?”

“If you must,” and Liv barely conceals her disappointment.

“Ask me again a different day.” Then May relents a little. “We could still put all that pent up energy of yours to good use, though.” 

“Oh, really?”

May shifts an arm, and Liv loosens the coils surrounding it enough that May can reach up – she’s shocked at how responsive Liv is able to be, given she must be having to anticipate what May needs. She tugs at the material against Liv’s bicep; it’s got enough give that she can pull it out slightly before letting it snap back.

“Yes, really. You’ll have to take this off first.”

“I revise my previous statement about that taking too much effort.”

“A question of the right motivation?” May says, leaning in closely.

“You’re _always_ the right motivation.” Liv says, and she kisses May deep and slow before retracting everything all at once, jumping up, and taking May to the bedroom. 

\--

Liv remembers to text her first, so May’ll have time to settle herself in. This time, when she loops herself in through the window, May is resting on the couch already; one knee bent for support, a hand propped under her chin while another holds a book open.

“Neighbour let me in,” she finishes Liv’s thought before Liv can verbalize it, closing the book and placing it beside her on the armrest. “They’re starting to recognize me.”

What a sense of freedom and agility this gives her – Olivia doesn’t let her feet touch the ground, seeming to feel May’s eyes tracking her. She reaches without even looking to slide the window shut and flip the latch. Under the guise of depositing a few items from her pockets, she slips the data drive she’d been out to acquire into a ceramic dish, shuffles a couple business cards on top of it. No one will realize what she’s done until tomorrow at the earliest, but she doesn’t want to forget about it in her pocket and accidentally break it. “That so? Wonder what they think of our coffee dates.”

“Depends entirely on how soundproof this apartment is.”

There’s an edge to her tone that’s _very _interesting. Liv glances over her shoulder to see that May _is _watching her, a hand curled in front of her mouth while she runs a finger thoughtfully against her lower lip. 

“Hm.” Liv raises an eyebrow. “I haven’t gotten any complaints so far.”

Stretching her arms out in front of her, then pressing them down into the couch, May sits up partially. “Might have to try harder, then.”

“Oh? If you’re trying to seduce me, it’s working – what’s gotten into you here? I’m into it. Just want to know.”

May has to know the smile creeping onto her face is _doing _things, because Liv feels a flush creeping high on her cheekbones in response to May’s expression, to her still so-casual position on Liv’s couch.

“You took a while getting here.” May says, “and I might have entertained some thoughts on what we talked about the first time you wore that getup in front of me.”

Liv realizes she still hasn’t moved, and lets the limbs lift her up and do the walking for her – it’s easier, now, letting them run like a background process. Simpler, because her heart rate is picking up a little – she can see the little numbers in her peripheral vision ticking away.

“Did you?”

“Mm. When the mood strikes me I’m quite capable of taking care of business.” She gestures behind her at the book. “I’ve read this one already, anyways.”

“So what you’re saying… is that you got yourself let in, and before I had time to get here…” She sets herself down next to the sectional, starting to tug her gloves off, one finger at a time, fighting to keep her tone light. “...you got yourself off?”

May rolls her eyes.

“That’s a crude way of putting it.” But she’s reaching out a hand to tug Liv in a little closer, and Liv allows herself to be moved in; May kisses her deep and yearning. “Though not inaccurate.”

“God, I could take you apart.”

“I might be asking you to.”

The groan Liv’s been keeping in emerges, overtakes her, and it’s instinct as much as anything that carries her forward; she’s not worried about catching herself, and her gloves fall to the ground as she runs one of her hands through May’s hair, sweeping it back. Gentle, she reminds herself, _gentle_, this is untested territory; but she kisses May slanted and earnest nonetheless, May’s hands coming up to hold tight around Liv’s rib cage just above the waist-armour of the suit, where there’s more comfortable purchase to be had. The limbs make it easy to stay suspended partway on, partway off the couch; Liv’s left leg able to balance against the floor, her right knee on the body of the couch, so that she’s not-quite straddling May again. What a delicious repetition of the last time she had May in this sort of position, she thinks, heady and zeroed-in. 

“You’ve been so busy lately,” May concedes in a second when Liv lets her catch her breath, and Liv has to focus hard on the words – the rest of her channeling whatever residual adrenaline and energy she’s got left from flinging herself through the city into _this_. “I’ve missed this, I’ve missed you.”

“Consider my attention very much captured,” Liv breathes, wondering… should she?

Yeah, she’s going to, and she angles herself up and settles over May more fully, using one of the extra limbs at her disposal to grab a few of the throw cushions from the floor where May must have put them behind May’s back, just so she’ll be more propped up. With another, she glides along May’s neck with the length of it, watching as she tilts her head up in response to the contact. This all simultaneously, and oh, what the hell, Liv starts to let one flow along the lower hem of May’s shirt as she kisses neat and quick, a few times and a few places.

“I owe you an apology for that. What if I make it up to you, hm?”

“I’d accept it.”

“Very generous of you.”

“I’ve come around to the concept of this, so why wait?” May responds, pitched low, though Liv thinks she detects the hint of a tremor in it; oh, well then.

“Spontaneous creative applications of the tech… yeah, sounds like fun.” Liv says, now fully able to rest her body weight over May with next to no effort at all – that’s delightful, the revelation of how two limbs can give stability, brace most of herself for a comfortable overhead angle, and the other two-plus-two be reserved for finesse work. Like retracting just enough, back along the neck, to lift May’s chin with one of the ends of an arm; the ends of that tentacle unfurl, coming to rest just along the upper limits of May’s throat, the angle of her jawline towards her ear, and Liv gets a gentle buzz across her scalp as the sensors contact.

“I’ll tell you if it’s too much.” Promises May, as Liv uses her hands – her own – to skim over the surface of May’s navel.

“Please do,” says Liv, a little more seriousness infusing her words, and together they push May’s shirt up and over her head, the same helper limb that grabbed up the pillows depositing it somewhere else before slowly starting to curl across May’s shoulders, pliable and soft.

May shivers a little as the fluid inside the limb winding its way around her stabilizes, a tiny ripple through the interior.

“I wasn’t expecting it to feel like this.”

“Bad?”

“Warm. Pleasant.”

“Self-adjusting.”

Liv tips May’s head up gently and nips a few kisses down along her neck, using both of her hands to trail along May’s collarbone, skin-on-skin, hearing May make a small sound back in her throat. She gently slips the straps of May’s bra off a shoulder so she has better access, slips a hand into the cup of one to trace across the softness of her, over the nipple.

“That doesn’t do much for me,” May sighs. “The – the collarbones and neck feels good, though –”

“More of that, then?”

Already it’s easy to oblige, considering there are multiple pressure points she can work with here – it’s strange, the contrast between how turned on she’s getting and how mundane the input is from what the arms are touching. The dull hum of them is numbing, but May’s hands on her – those, Liv can feel. And May shifts towards her, or tries to, as she smooths both her thumbs from the clavicle outwards to the soft curve of May’s shoulders.

On a whim, she grips with a little more intent at May’s jaw, lifting her head back up to kiss May, resolute and firm. May _groans _into that, and _that’s _interesting.

“Oh really?” Liv smiles into May’s mouth. Impetuously she reaches between them, to the juncture where May’s slightly spread legs meet, and presses up – May _gasps_, and Liv, delighted, lets her fingers rub against the fabric. “Is _this _what you were thinking about?”

“_Hnh_ –” May gets out, and Liv can see her eyes squeeze shut. “You know, it was. Although now I know about the – _please_, get your hands on me already – now that I know about the tactility of these…”

“Hold that thought,” Liv grapples with the button and zipper of May’s pants, but she has _both hands to do so_, this whole situation is _really _revolutionizing some of the elements of sex that they’ve been impatiently dealing with the last while. She reaches down again, this time managing to trap her hand between May and a couple layers of fabric, feeling that yes, indeed, things are working wonderfully today. She moves directly against the slick of May and continues, “You were saying?”

“_Fuck_ –” If Liv wasn’t holding on to her, the jolt that goes through May would be a lot stronger. She releases the grip that she has on May’s jaw, resuming a gentle glide along the side of her neck again. “_Ohh_, God, I was _saying_, these are so versatile, they feel so interesting, I might have some new ideas, _oh _yes –”

May is digging her fingers in at Liv’s sides, and the lack of control that’s starting to show is excellent. Liv moves her hand a little faster, an urgent and pleasant ache starting up in her core.

“I’m taking notes,” she breathes. May strains her head towards Liv, who takes the hint and kisses her again – May moans into her mouth and bites Liv’s lower lip. “Do you like being held down?”

“Tonight, yes. You’re the only one I’d trust to do this,” May grits out before another swear tumbles out of her, and that line alone makes Liv gasp, the meaning of it shaking through her, when did she become such a sucker for that kind of talk? Then May continues speaking, and the _fortitude _that requires, the focus, is astonishing, considering Liv is moving her fingertips in neat, precise circles against where she’s learned May likes it best.

“With the right angle, the right prepar… preparation we, we could almost certainly get one of these between our legs to rub up against, or at least one of us – _oh_, God, don’t you stop – as long as we clean it off after, well…”

“Now _that’s_ a concept,” Liv muses, and May makes another sound as Liv instructs the arm around May to undulate slightly. “Might have to test that shortly.”

_“Ohhh _God-!”

May tenses, Liv sees her hands clench into fists, and she cries out long and un-self-consciously as she comes against Liv’s hand. Liv starts laughing, this is _wonderful_, and she gently relaxes the coil of the tentacle wrapped around May’s upper body so that she’s lying out on the couch again. Liv arranges the arms, one after another bracing on the wall, the floor, the armrest, so that she can reach out and wrap her arms around May, hold her through the last brief aftershocks. May flings her arms around Liv’s neck and doesn’t seem to mind that her face is pressed against the soft silicone-like substance armouring Liv’s collarbones.

“Well done,” she murmurs against May’s ear.

There’s a shift, and May is kissing up her jawline.

“Don’t want you to go without having a turn,” she mumbles, but there’s something in how May’s drawing herself in that has Liv wondering.

“Do you want more?” She asks quietly, and May pauses a scant second before groaning, amused.

“Am I that obvious?”

Liv lets herself have something. She cups the side of May’s face in one hand, waiting until the other woman meets her eyes.

“You realize it’s okay if you do, right?”

May turns her head down, and Olivia feels May’s lips against the base of her thumb. “I’m a selfish old woman, aren’t I?”

_You’re faultless_. “You’re not.”

“Then yes.” There’s a kind of defiance in May’s stare now, but she’s reaching out to grab around the back of Liv’s head to kiss her stupid all over again; only this time it’s more leisurely, this time it lingers, smoulders instead of flares.

“Hang on a second.”

It takes a moment to readjust – to get them situated and shifted back. When they’re done, May can lie flat out on the sectional instead of being propped up against anything, a pillow below her head. As for Liv, she tests her balance, and directs the length of the limb to wind between her legs and brace against the floor, well out of the way.

As Olivia settles down onto it, she tugs May’s pants down just over the jut of her hipbones, freeing up a little more room to work. An experimental movement confirms that yep, this might go fine – she shows a bit of her teeth as she leans back down, locking her ankles so that the angle gets sweeter.

“That looks like it feels good.” May’s eyes are dragging heavy over Liv’s expression; her mouth’s open involuntarily, and she swallows before responding.

“It does. I’ll show you sometime.”

Liv takes her time before moving, running her thumbs over the dips where May’s hips angle down, watching the muscles in her navel jump a little bit. Drops her fingers lower, where she made May come undone just minutes ago, and hears a sharp intake of breath. She meets May’s eyes directly as she slides in, getting friction going between her own legs as she does so, and _oh _that’s good. Almost enough on its own, but the way May is looking at her, burning, with Liv’s fingers gliding up into the core of her… that’s what makes Liv choke back a sound more than anything, what sends a ripple echoing through the limbs where they brace against the ceiling, the wall, the floor, as a shiver rolls through her.

Liv traces one of her own hands down May’s throat, which bares itself; she leans in so she can scrape her teeth lightly against the skin there, drinking in the groan May releases. Between her legs, a steady and predictable undulation as the limbs keep themselves in hydrostatic equilibrium, and _God _she wants this, she doesn’t even have to move at all if she doesn’t want to… and there’s no strain on her wrist or shoulder at all when she pulls out and starts circling against May again, fixed on getting her to the edge and over it another time if she can, content with making her feel good if that’s not possible tonight. May grabs onto Liv’s wrist and pushes it down, and Liv can take a hint.

Of course, she _does _start rolling her hips as she slips back into May, adding another finger and listening to May stifle a cry. Liv’s not prone to moderation. This is an indulgence. She tips her forehead forward and against May’s, curls coming loose from her updo and falling around their faces, and breathes as steadily as she can. That’s considering, of course, the white heat starting to ebb into her, through her like the sea, as she fucks up into May as tender and slowly as she knows how, as May grabs onto her shoulders and urges her on although the words are fragments at this point.

“Oh fuck, I’m gonna come.” Liv manages, as she realizes she’s hitting the tipping point.

May surges up to kiss her, whispers, “then do it,” just as another one of the stabilizing ripples goes through the limb between Liv’s legs, and everything flares out hard and fast. Her hand comes free of May and she feels it, braced so hard against the back of the couch that it’s trembling, but that’s about all the sensation she’s aware of; the rest of the world thrumming around her, shattered, Liv at the centre of it like a web.

When she comes back to herself May is smiling up at her, running her hands soothing down Liv’s arms, and Liv can’t find words for a long time.

Eventually, May speaks, so Liv doesn’t have to.

“Let’s go get cleaned up.”

All things considered, they’d been remarkably sanitary – May helps Liv run water and a mild soap down the parts of the suit that might have gotten besmirched, including the limbs, before they retract into the pack they’re stored in. Even helps her towel off, before considerately and carefully helping Liv disassemble and strip down every layer of it until she’s wearing nothing at all. May sponge-bathes as usual, and for the first time says that Liv can stay if she wants to, so she does. Tugs on a robe from the bathroom closet and sits on the edge of the tub. Returns the favour of the assistance she’d just gotten. She runs a warm washcloth over the span of May’s back, the delicate jut of her shoulder blades, looking at all the living evident across and over her skin. The spots and the wrinkles and the places May’s veins are starting to show through. Liv gets the urge to kiss some of them but thinks better of it. Settles instead for rubbing a towel against the parts of May’s back that she can’t reach herself.

They eat. Something unremarkable. It’s evening, and they’re tired, so Liv suggests they tuck in early, even though she hasn’t been able to stop her mind from processing what just happened, over and over again. It’s when May is tucked up against her, arm resting across Liv’s bare chest, that she addresses things.

“…Thank you. I needed that.”

“That was pretty apparent.” Liv rolls over onto her side so she can see better. May’s chest expands and falls steadily, but otherwise she’s just… lying there, facing her. “You alright?”

“Just needed to get out of my head. Peter’s going through… a lot right now, and with what’s been happening in the news… I don’t know. I wanted to burn it out of me for a little while.”

“Did it work?”

Warmth, mellowness in the response. “Yes. Yes, it did.”

“Good. And I heard what you said, by the way. Might’ve been the hottest admonishment anyone’s ever given me. But overworking is an old, bad habit. I’ll try to do better.”

“Mm, well, and I’ll try not to jump your bones every time we’re in your place alone together.”

“I’m sorry, did I issue any complaints about that? I don’t think I did?”

The mock affront in Liv’s voice gets May laughing again, light and conceding.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you okay?” May asks.

“Always am.”

“Liv…”

“Maybe I wasn’t, recently. But I’m getting there. Having the suit back means I have a lot of freedom, a lot of… opportunities opening up ahead of me. I don’t think I need to tell you there are some bad people out there, with a lot of idiotic ideas. I feel like the circles I run in – conferences, listservs, even in the cafeteria or the bars or the work parties – I know about some of it faster and now I’m finally in a position to… I’m not sure yet what, exactly.”

“We never did talk about that. Aren’t you worried someone’s going to come knocking and say, hey, aren’t you _that _Dr. Octavius from the tech summit?”

Liv thinks about what she did, for a microsecond.

Forces herself to smile, mouth a thin line.

“If someone really wanted to connect the dots, they’d be able. I don’t see any reason they’d ever need to do so. Plus I made massive changes to the design when I got it back. Customization. The old version was all in white, and a lot clunkier. The limbs themselves were initially going to be articulated metal; can you believe that?”

“That would have posed some logistical issues in accomplishing this.”

The banter is familiar, safe territory. Liv chuckles.

“A few.”

May shifts in, even closer, and traces idly down Liv’s back. It seems like she’s weighing something, but if that’s the case she doesn’t say. 

“Goodnight, Liv.”

“Goodnight.”

Although May falls asleep quickly, Olivia lies awake for… she’s not sure how long. She’s picturing what she might read from her watch in the morning, the headlines, _Thomas J. Watson Research Center Breached _or something. Maybe nothing at all. It depends how subtle she was. Tonight involved proof-of-concept in a lot of ways, as it turns out.

There’s a line of moonlight from the bedroom window cutting across their bodies. Liv turns in towards May to avoid it, for the moment, and eventually floats somewhere in her mind deep, and dark, and uncomplicated.

\--

Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some final notes! 
> 
> First, this chapter takes place approximately 4-5 years after the events of the first chapter in the timeline I have imagined for them.
> 
> There are definitely some of my headcanons embedded here, in particular about how I think Olivia's suit actually works - I do genuinely believe the arms are not fused to her body in any way, although the subdermal implants are kinda interesting. There is actually an implant some people have gotten that allow them to sense electrical fields, so that's wild. I intend to explore some of these headcanons in at least one more fic. 
> 
> IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE About carbon nanotubes and their applications in textile science, because WHY WOULDN'T YOU? I have some links to these two article abstracts, one on [the multi-functional fabrics of carbon nanotubes](https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/ta/c9ta01474h#!divAbstract) and the other on [applications for carbon nanotubes in the textile industry](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323483170_Carbon_nanotube_and_its_applications_in_textile_industry_-_A_review). Wild stuff. I really hope these links don't break; if they do, the DOI's are 10.1039/C9TA01474H and 10.1080/00405000.2018.1437114 respectively.
> 
> I personally think that May's graduate studies would have had her specializing in textile sciences and engineering, while Liv's was something else / several disciplines I'm still working out. Anyways, May has absolutely de-bugged a couple of the AI / Neural-Network Generated SkyKnit patterns that ended up on Ravelry a couple years back, and the results of them are somewhere in her house. Maybe as a fucked-up tea cozy. SkyKnit cracks me up. 
> 
> The IBM Research facilities in New York are absolutely buckwild in terms of how significant they are to all kinds of research, including AI, which... I didn't actually know before I started looking into the tech companies that Liv may have broken into early in her budding career as Doc Ock, so. The more you know. I intend to look into some of these more. 
> 
> Thank you all, as always, for reading.


End file.
